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CONDITIONS  IN  UTAH. 
SPEECH 

OP 

HON.  THOMAS  KEARNS, 

OF   UTAH, 

IN  THE 


SENATE  OF  THE   UNITED   STATES, 


Tuesday,  February  28,  1905. 


^ 

T 


C328 


WASHINGTON. 
1905. 


.(S3 


SPEECH 


HON.   THOMAS  KEAENS 


POLYGAMOUS    MAKRIAGES   AND   PLURAL   COHABITATION. 

The  PRESIDENT  pro  tempore.  The  Chair  lays  before  the  Senate  the  resolu- 
tion submitted  by  the  Senator  from  Idaho  [Mr.  Dubois],  which  will  be  read. 

The  Secretary  read  the  resolution  submitted  yesterday  by  Mr.  Dubois,  as 
follows : 

Resolved,  That  the  Commitee  on  the  Judiciary  he,  and  it  is  hereby,  authorized  and 
instructed  to  prepare  and  report  to  the  Senate  within  thirty  days  after  the  hegiiinino:  of 
the  next  session  of  Congress  a  joint  resolution  of  the  two  Houses  of  Congress  proposing 
to  the  several  States  amendments  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  which  shall 
provide,  in  substance,  for  the  prohibition  and  punishment  of  pohrgamous  marriages  and 
plural  cohabitation  contracted  or  practiced  within  the  United  States  and  in  every  place 
subject  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States  ;  and  which  shall,  in  substance,  also  re- 
quire all  persons  taking  office  under  the  Constitution  or  laws  of  the  United  States,  or  of 
any  State,  to  take  and  subscribe  an  oath  that  he  or  she  is  not,  and  will  not  be,  a  member 
or  adherent  of  any  organization  whatever  the  laws,  rules,  or  nature  of  which  organization 
require  him  or  her  to  disregard  his  or  her  duty  to  support  and  maintain  the  Constitution 
and  laws  of  the  United  States  and  of  the  several  States. 

Mr.  KEARNS.  Mr.  President,  I  will  not  permit  this  occasion  to  pass  without 
saying,  with  brevity  and  such  clearness  as  I  can  command,  what  it  seems  to  me 
should  be  said  by  a  Senator,  under  these  circumstances,  before  leaving  public 
life.  Something  is  due  to  the  State  which  has  honored  me ;  something  is  due  to 
the  record  which  I  have  endeavored  to  maintain  honorably  before  the  world  and 
something,  by  way  of  information,  is  due  to  the  Senate  and  the  country. 

Utah,  the  newest  of  the  States,  to  me  the  best  beloved  of  all  the  States, 
appears  to  be  the  only  one  concerning  which  there  is  a.  serious  conflict  with  the 
country.  I  was  not  born,  in  Utah,  but  I  have  spent  all  the  years  of  my  manhood 
there,  and  I  love  the  Commonwealth  and  its  people.  In  what  I  say  there  is 
malice  toward  none,  and  I  hope  to  make  it  just  to  all.  If  the  present  day  does 
not  accept  my  statements  and  appreciate  my  motives,  I  can  only  trust  that 
time  will  prove  more  gentle  and  that  in  the  future  those  who  care  to  revert  to 
these  remarks  will  know  that  they  are  animated  purely  by  a  hope  to  bring  about 
a  better  understanding  between  Utah  and  this  great  nation. 

Utah  was  admitted  to  statehood  after,  and  because  of,  a  long  series  of  pledges 
exacted  from  the  Mormon  leaders,  the  like  of  which  had  never  before  been 
known  in  American  history.  Except  for  those  pledges,  the  sentiment  of  the 
United  States  would  never  have  assented  to  Utah's  admission.  Except  for  the 
belief  on  the  part  of  Congress  and  the  country  that  the  extraordinary  power 
which  abides  in  that  State  would  maintain  these  pledges,  Utah  would  not  have 
been  admitted.  There  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  the  President  who  signed 
the  bill  would  have  vetoed  it  if  he  had  not  been  convinced  that  the  pledges  made 
would  be  kept. 

THE  PLEDGES. 

As  a  citizen  of  the  State  and  a  witness  to  the  events  and  words  which  consti- 
tute those  pledges,  as  a  Senator  of  the  United  States,  I  give  my  word  of  honor 
to  you  that  I  believed  that  these  pledges  consisted  of  the  following  propositions : 

First.  That  the  Mormon  leaders  would  live  within  the  laws  pertaining  to  plu- 
ral marriage  and  the  continued  plural  marriage  relation,  and  that  they  would 
enforce  this  obligation  upon  all  of  their  followers,  under  penalty  of  disfellowship. 

G328  3 


/I  /.  /I  l-  I  ■ \  ('  \  l  l\ 


Second,  That  the  leaders  of  the  Mormon  Church  would  no  longer  exercise 
political  sway,  and  that  their  followers  would  be  free  and  would  exercise  their 
freedom  in  politics,  in  business,  and  in  social  affairs. 

As  a  citizen  and  a  Senator  I  give  my  word  of  honor  to  you  that  I  believed 
that  these  pledges  would  be  kept  in  the  si>lrit  in  which  Congress  and  the  country 
accepted  them,  and  that  there  would  never  be  any  violation,  evasion,  denial,  or 
equivocation  concerning  them. 

I  appeal  to  such  members  of  this  body  as  were  in  either  House  of  Congres-3 
during  the  years  1890  to  1890,  if  it  was  not  their  belief  at  that  time  thait  the 
foregoing  were  the  pledges  and  that  they  would  be  kept;  and  I  respectfully 
insist  that  every  Senator  here  who  was  a  member  of  either  House  at  that  time 
would  have  refused  to  vote  for  Utah's  admission  unless  he  had  firmly  believed  as 
I  have  stated. 

1.  Utiih  secured  her  statehood  by  a  solemn  compact  made  by  the  Mormon 
leaders  in  behalf  of  themselves  and  their  people. 

2.  That  compact  has  been  broken  willfully  and  frequently. 

3.  No  apostle  of  the  Mormon  Church  has  publicly  protested  against  that 
violation. 

I  know  the  gravity  of  the  iTtterances  that  I  have  just  made.  I  know  what 
are  the  probable  consequences  to  myself.  But  I  have  pondered  long  and 
earnestly  upon  the  subject  and  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  duty  to  the 
innocent  people  of  my  State  and  that  obligation  to  the  Senate  and  the  country 
require  that  I  shall  clearly  define  my  attitude. 

RELIGION  N'OT  INVOLVED. 

This  is  no  quarrel  with  religion.  This  is  no  assault  upon  any  man's  faith. 
This  is  rather  the  reverence  toward  the  inherent  right  of  all  men  to  believe  as 
they  please,  which  separates  religious  faith  from  irreligious  practice.  The  Mor- 
mon people  have  a  system  of  their  own,  somewhat  complex,  and  gathered  fi'om 
the  mysticisms  of  all  the  ages.  It  does  not  appeal  to  most  men ;  but  in  its 
purely  theological  domain  it  is  theirs,  and  I  respect  it  as  their  religion  and  them 
as  its  believers. 

The  trouble  arises  now,  as  it  has  frequently  ari.sen  in  the  past,  from  the  fact 
that  some  of  the  accidental  leaders  of  the  movement  since  the  first  zealot 
founder  have  sought  to  malve  of  this  religion  not  only  a  system  cf  morals,  some- 
times quite  original  in  themselves,  but  also  a  system  of  social  relation,  a  system 
of  finance,  a  system  of  commerce,  and  a  system  of  iwlities. 

THE  SOCIAL  ASPECT. 

I  dismiss  the  religion  with  my  profound  respect;  if  it  can  comfort  them,  I 
would  not,  if  I  could,  disturb  it.  Coming  to  the  social  aspect  of  the  sccietA*,  it  is 
apparent  that  tlie  gi-eat  founder  sought  first  to  establish  equality  among  men, 
and  then  to  draw  from  those  equal  ranks  a  special  class,  who  were  permitted  to 
practice  polygamy  and  to  whom  special  privileges  were  accorde<l  in  their  asso- 
ciation with  the  consecrated  temples  and  the  administration  of  mystic  ordi- 
nances therein.  The  polygamous  group,  or  cult  as  it  may  be  called,  soon  became 
the  nding  factor  in  the  organization  ;  and  it  may  be  observed  that  ever  since  the 
founding  of  tlie  church  almost  evei*y  man  of  prominence  in  the  community  has 
belonged  to  this  order.  It  was  so  in  the  time  of  the  martyrs,  Joseph  and  IIjTum 
Smith,  who  were  killed  at  Carthage  jail  in  Illinois,  and  both  of  whom  were 
polygamists,  although  it  was  denied,  at  the  time.  There  were  living  until 
recently,  and  perhaps  there  are  living  now,  women  who  testified  that  tliey  were 
married  in  polygamy  to  one  or  the  other  of  these  two  men,  Joseph  having  the 
larger  number.  It  has  been  so  ever  since  and  is  so  to-day  that  nearly  eveiy  man 
of  the  governing  class  has  been  or  is  a  polygamist. 

Brigham  Young  succeeded  Joseph  Smith,  and  he  set  up  a  kind  of  kingly  ruler- 
ship,  not  unbecoming  to  a  man  of  his  vast  empire-building  ix>wer.  The  Mormons 
have  been  taught  to  revere  Joseph  Smith  as  a  direct  prophet  from  God.  He  saw 
the  face  of  the  All  Father.  He  held  communion  with  the  Son.  The  Holy  Ghost 
was  his  constant  companion.  He  settled  every  question,  however  trivial,  by 
revelation  from  Almighty  God.  But  Brigham  was  different  While  claiming 
a  divine  right  of  leadership,  he  worked  out  his  great  mission  by  palpable  and 
material  means.  I  do  not  know  that  he  ever  pretended  to  have  received  a  rev- 
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elation  from  the  time  that  he  left  Nauvoo  until  he  reached  the  shores  of  the 
Dead  Sea,  nor  through  all  the  thirty  years  of  his  leadership  there.  He  seemed 
to  regard  his  people  as  children  who  had  to  be  led  through  their  serious  calam- 
ities by  holding  out  to  them  the  glittering  thought  of  divine  guardianship.  So 
firmly  did  Brigham  establish  the  socal  order  in  Utah  that  all  of  the  people  \yere 
equal,  except  the  governing  body.  This  may  be  said  to  consist  of  the  president 
and  his  two  counsellors,  they  three  constituting  the  first  presidency ;  the  twelve 
apostles ;  the  presiding  bishopric,  consisting  of  three  men,  the  chief  bishops  of 
the  church  but  much  lower  in  rank  than  the  apostles ;  the  seven  presidents  of 
seventies,  who  are,  under  the  apostles,  the  subordinate  head  of  the  missionary 
service  of  the  church;  and  the  presiding  patriarch.  These  altogether  consti- 
tute a  body  of  twenty-six  men.  There  are  local  authorities  in  the  different 
stakes  of  Zion,  as  they  are  called,  corresponding  to  counties  in  a  State,  but  with 
these  it  is  not  necessary  to  deal. 

Practically  all  of  these  men  under  Brigham  Young  were  polygamists.  They 
constituted  what  one  of  their  number  once  called  the  "  elite  class  "  of  the  com- 
munity. To  attain  this  rank  one  usually  had  to  show  ability,  and  attaining  the 
rank  he  was  quite  certain  to  enter  into  or  extend  his  already  existing  plural- 
marriage  relations.  These  rulers  were  looked  upon  with  great  reverence. 
Brigham  Young,  besides  being  a  prophet  of  God,  as  they  believed,  had  led  them 
through  the  greatest  march  of  the  ages.  His  nod  became  almost  superhuman  in 
its  significance.  His  frown  was  as  terrible  to  them  as  the  wrath,  of  God.  He 
uphelfl  all  the  members  of  the  polygamistic  and  governing  class  by  his  favoritism 
toward  them.  He  supremely,  and  they  subordinately,  ruled  the  community  as 
if  they  were  a  king  and  a  house  of  peers,  with  no  house  of  commons.  Not  else- 
where in  the  United  States,  and  not  in  any  foreign  country  where  civilization 
dwells,  has  there  been  such  a  complete  mastery  of  man  over  modern  men.  The 
subordinates  and  the  mass  would  perform  the  slightest  will  of  Brigham  Young. 
When  he  was  not  present  the  mass  would  perform  the  will  of  any  of  the  sub- 
ordinates speaking  in  his  name.  Below  this  privileged  class  stood  the  common 
mass.  It  had  its  various  gradations  of  title,  but,  with  the  exception  of  rare 
instances  of  personal  power,  there  was  equality  in  the  mass.  For  instance,  as 
business  was  a  part  of  their  system,  the  local  religious  authority  in  some  remote 
part  might  be  the  business  subordinate  of  some  other  man  of  less  ecclesiastical 
rank,  with  the  result  that  this  peculiar  intermingling  kept  them  all  practically 
upon  one  level  of  social  order ;  and  the  man  who  made  adobes  under  the  hot  sun 
of  the  desert  through  all  the  week  might  still  be  the  religious  superior  of  the 
richest  man  in  the  local  community,  and  they  met  on  terms  of  equality  and 
friendship.  Their  children  might  intermarry,  the  difference  in  wealth  being 
countervailed  by  a  difference  in  ecclesiastical  Authority, 

It  was  a  strange  social  system,  this,  with  Brigham  Young  and  his  coterie  of 
advisers,  to  the  number  of  twenty-six,  standing  at  the  head,  self-perpetuating,  the 
chief  being  able  to  select  constantly  to  fill  the  ranks  as  they  might  be  depleted 
by  death ;  and  all  these  ruling  over  one  solid  mass  of  equal  caste  who  thought 
that  the  rulers  were  animated  by  divine  revelation,  holding  the  right  to  govern 
in  all  things  on  earth  and  wuth  authority  extending  into  heaven. 

So  firmly  intrenched  was  their  social  system  that  when  Brigham  Young  passed 
away  his  various  successors  who  came  in  time  to  his  place  by  accident  of  senior- 
ity of  service  found  ample  opportunity  without  difficulty  to  perpetuate  this  sys- 
tem and  to  maintain  their  social  autocracy.  As  the  matter  has  appeared  so 
fully  before  the  country,  I  will  not  speak  further  of  the  method  of  succession, 
but  will  merely  call  to  your  minds  that  after  Brigham  Young  came  John  Taylor, 
then  Wilford  Woodruff,  then  Lorenzo  Snow,  then  Joseph  F.  Smith,  the  present 
ruler. 

Under  these  several  men  the  social  autocracy  has  had  its  varying  fortunes,  but 
at  the  present  time  it  is  probably  at  as  high  a  point  as  it  ever  reached  under  the 
original  Joseph  or  under  Brigham  Young.  The  president  of  the  church,  Joseph 
F.  Smith,  affects  a  regal  state.  His  home  consists  of  a  series  of  villas,  rather 
handsome  in  design,  and  surrounded  by  such  ample  grounds  as  to  afford  suffi- 
cient exclusiveness.  In  addition  to  this  he  has  an  official  residence  of  historic 
character  near  to  the  office  which  he  occupies  as  president.  When  he  travels  he 
is  usually  accompanied  by  a  train  of  friends,  who  are  really  servitors.  When 
he  attends  social  functions  he  appears  like  a  ruler  among  his  subjects.  And  in 
this  respect  I  am  not  speaking  of  ^.lormon  associations  alone,  for  there  are  many 
Gentiles  in  and  out  of  Utah  who  seem  to  take  delight  in  paying  this  extraor- 
dinary deference. 
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6 

If  I  hnre  seemed  to  speak  at  lensrth  upon  this  (mere  social  phase  it  bas  nwt 
?been  without  a  definite  purpose.  I  want  yon  to  liuow  how  tliis  relii?ion,  claim- 
iufr  to  recosniize  and  secure  tlie  equality  of  men,  immediately  established  and  has 
liiaiirtained  for  the  mass  of  its  adherents  that  social  equality,  but  has  elevated 
a  class  of  its  rulers  to  regal  authority  and  splendor.  Understanding  how  the 
chief  among  them  has  the  dignity  of  a  monarch  in  their  social  relations,  you  will 
better  understand  the  business  and  political  autocracy  which  he  has  been  able 
to  establish. 

In  all  this  social  system  each  apostle  has  his  great  part.  He  is  inseparable 
from  it.  He  wields  now,  as  does  a  minister  at  court,  such  part  of  the  power  as 
the  monarch  may  permit  him  to  ejijoy,  and  it  is  his  hope  and  exi^ectation  that 
■be  will  outline  those  who  are  his  seniors  in  rank  in  order  that  he  may  become 
tlie  i-uler. 

Therefore,  if  there  be  evil  in  this  social  relation  as  I  have  portrayed  it,  every 
apostle  is  responsil^le  for  a  part  of  th.at  evil.  They  enjoy  the  honors  of  the 
social  class ;  they  help  to  exert  the  tyranny  over  the  subjugated  mass.  Those  of 
you  who  do  nie  the  honor  to  follow  my  remarks  will  realize  how  close  is  the  re- 
lation between  the  apostles  and  the  pr(?sident,  and  that  the  apostle  is  a  respon- 
sible part  of  the  governing  power.  While  I  may  speak  of  the  president  of  the 
church  segregated  from  his  associates  and  as  the  monarch,  it  must  be  under- 
stood constantly  that  he  maintains  his  power  by  the  support  of  the  apostles, 
who  keep  the  mass  in  order  and  in  subjugation  to  his  will,  expressed  through 
them. 

THE  BUSn^SS   MONOPOLY. 

Whatever  may  have  been  its  origin  or  excuse,  the  business  power  of  the  presi- 
dent of  the  church  and  of  the  select  class  which  he  admits  into  business  relations 
with  him  is  now  a  practical  monopoly,  or  is  rapidly  becoming  a  monopoly,  of 
everything  that  he  touches.  I  want  to  call  your  attention  to  the  exti'aordinar5' 
list  of  worldly  concerns  in  which  this  spiritual  leader  holds  official  position. 
The  situation  is  more  amazing  when  you  are  advised  that  this  man  came  to  his 
l)residency  purely  by  accident,  namely,  the  death  of  his  seniors  in  rank ;  that  he 
had  never  known  any  business  ability,  and  that  he  comes  to  the  presidency  and 
the  directorship  of  the  various  corporations  solely  because  he  is  president  of  the 
church.  He  is  already  reputed  to  be  a  wealthy  man,  and  his  statement 
would  seem  to  indicate  that  he  has  large  holdings  in  the  various  corporations 
with  which  he  is  associated,  although  previous  to  his  accession  to  the  presidency 
of  the  church  he  made  a  kind  of  proud  boast  among  his  people  of  his  poverty. 

He  condncts  railways,  street -car  lines,  power  and  light  companies,  coal  mines, 
salt  works,  sugar  factories,  shoe  factories,  mercantile  houses,  drug  stores,  news- 
papers, magazines,  theaters,  and  almost  evei*y  conceivable  kind  of  business,  and 
in  all  of  these,  inasmuch  as  he  is  the  dominant  factor  by  viitne  of  his  being  the 
prophet  of  God,  he  asserts  indisputable  sway.  It  is  considered  an  evidence  of 
defei'ence  to  him,  and  good  standing  in  the  church,  for  his  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  followers  to  patronize  exclusively  the  institutions  which  he  controls. 

And  this  fact  alone,  Mithout  any  business  ability  on  his  part,  but  with  capable 
subordinate  guidance  for  his  enteipi-ises,  insures  their  success,  and  danger  and 
possible  iiiin  for  every  competitive  enterprise.  Independent  of  these  business 
concerns,  he  is  in  receipt  of  an  income  like  unto  that  which  a  royal  family 
derives  from  a  national  treasury.  One-tenth  of  all  the  annual  earnings  of  all 
the  Mormons  in  all  the  world  flows  to  him.  These  funds  amount  to  the  sum  of 
$1,600,000  annually,  or  5  pea-  cent  upon  $32,000,000,  which  is  one-quarter  of  the 
entire  taxable  wealth  of  the  State  of  ITtah.  It  is  the  same  as  if  he  owned, 
individually,  in  addition  to  all  his  visible  enterprises,  one-quarter  of  all  the 
wealth  of  the  State  and  derived  fi'om  it  5  per  cent  of  income  witbout  taxation 
and  without  discount.  The  hoi)elessness  of  contending  in  a  business  way  with 
this  autoci-at  must  be  perfectly  apparent  to  your  minds.  The  original  puii^ose 
of  this  vast  tithe,  as  often  stated  by  speakers  for  the  church,  was  the  mainte- 
nance of  the  i>oor,  the  building  of  meetinghouses,  etc.  To-day  the  tithes  are 
transmuted,  in  the  localities  whei^e  they  are  paid,  into  cash,  and  they  flow  into 
the  treasurj'  of  the  head  of  the  chui'ch.  No  accomit  is  made,  or  ever  has  been 
made,  of  these  tithes.  The  president  expends  them  according  to  bis  own  will 
and  pleasm'e.  and  with  no  examination  of  bis  accounts,  except  by  those  few  men 
whom  lie  selects  for  that  purpose  and  whom  he  rewards  for  their  zeal  and 
secrecy.  Shortly  after  the  settlement  of  the  Monnon  Church  property  question 
6328 


vc'ith  the  United  States  the  chnreh  issued  a  series  of  bonds,  anionntinj?  approxi- 
mately to  $1,000,000,  which  Avere  talven  by  financial  institutions.  Tliis  wp.s  ])rob- 
ably  to  wipe  out  a  debt  which  had  accumulated  during  a  long  period  of  conti-o- 
versy  with  the  nation.  But  since,  and  including  the  year  1897,  which  was  about 
the  time  of  the  issue  of  the  bonds,  approximately  $9,000,000  have  been  paid  as 
tithes.  If  anj'  of  the  bonds  are  still  outstanding,  it  is  manifestly  becauFc  the 
president  of  the  church  desires  for  reasons  of  his  own  to  have  an  existing 
indebtedness. 

It  will  astound  you  to  know  that  every  dollar  of  United  States  money  i)aid>  to 
any  servant  of  the  Government  who  is  a  IMormon  is  tithed  for  the  benefit  of 
this  monarch.  Out  of  every  $1,000  thus  paid  he  gets  .$100  to  swell  his  grandeur. 
This  is  also  true  of  money  paid  out  of  the  public  ti-easury  of  the  State  of  Utah 
to  Mormon  officials.  But  what  is  worst  of  all,  the  monarch  dips  into  the  sacred 
public  school  fimd  and  extracts  from  every  Mormon  teacher  one-tenth  of  Jiis  or 
lier  earnings  and  uses  it  for  his  unaccounted  purposes ;  and,  by  means  of  these 
imrposes  and  the  power  which  they  constitute,  he  defies  the  laws  of  his  State, 
the  sentiment  of  his  country,  and  is  waging  war  of  nullification  on  the  public 
school  system,  so  dear  to  the  American  people.  No  right-thinking  man  will 
oppose  any  i^erson  as  a  servant  of  the  nation  or  the  State  or  as  a  teacher  in 
the  public  schools  on  account  of  religious  faith.  As  I  have  before  remarked, 
this  is  no  war  upon  the  religion  of  the  Mormons ;  and  I  am  only  calling  atten- 
tion to  the  monstrous  manner  in  which  this  monarch  invades  all  the  provinces 
of  human  life  and  endeavors  to  secure  his  rapacious  ends. 

In  all  this  there  is  no  thought  on  my  part  of  opposition  to  voluntary  gifts  by 
individuals  for  religious  purposes  or  matters  connected  legitimately  with 
religion.  My  comment  and  criticism  are  against  the  tyranny  which  misuses  a 
sacred  name  to  extract  from  individuals  the  moneys  which  they  ought  not  to 
spare  from  family  needs,  and  which  they  do  not  wish  to  spare ;  my  comment 
and  criticism  relate  to  the  power  of  a  monarch  whose  tyranny  is  so  effective  as 
that  not  even  the  moneys  paid  by  the  Government  are  considered  the  property 
of  the  Government's  servant  until  after  this  monarch  shall  have  seized  his 
arbitrary  tribute,  with  or  without  the  willing  assent  of  the  victim,  so  that  the 
monarch  may  engage  the  more  extensively  in  commercial  affairs,  which  are  not 
n  part  of  either  religion  or  charity. 

With  an  income  of  5  per  cent  upon  one-quarter  of  the  entire  assessed  valuation 
of  the  State  of  Utah  to-day,  how  long  will  it  take  this  monarch,  with  his  con-, 
stantly  increasing  demands  for  revenue,  to  so  absorb  the  productive  power  that 
he  shall  be  receiving  an  income  of  5  per  cent  upon  one-half  the  property,  and 
then  upon  all  of  the  property  of  the  State?  This  is  worse  than  the  farming  of 
taxes  under  the  old  French  Kings.  Will  Congress  allow  this  awful  calamity  to 
continue? 

The  view  which  the  people  of  the  United  States  entertained  on  this  subject 
forty  years  ago  was  shown  by  the  act  of  Congress  in  1S62,  in  which  a  provision, 
directed  particularly  against  the  Mormon  Church,  declared  that  no  church  in  a 
Territory  of  the  United  States  should  have  in  excess  of  $50,000  of  wealth  out- 
side of  the  property  used  for  purposes  of  worship.  It  is  evident  that  as  early 
as  that  time  the  pernicious  effects  of  a  system  which  used  the  name  of  God  and 
the  authority  of  religion  to  dominate  in  commerce  and  finance  were  fully; 
recognized. 

This  immense  tithing  fund  is  gathered  directly  from  Mormons,  but  the  burden 
falls  in  some  degree  upon  Gentiles  also.  Gentiles  are  in  business  and  suffer 
by  competition  with  tithe-supported  business  enterprises.  Gentiles  are  large 
employers  of  Mormon  labor ;  and  as  that  labor  must  pay  one-tenth  of  its  earn- 
ings to  support  competitive  concerns,  the  Gentile  employer  must  pay,  indirectly 
at  least,  the  tithe  which  may  be  utilized  to  compete  with,  and  even  ruin,  him  in 
business. 

And  in  return  it  should  be  noted  that  INIormon  institutions  do  not  employ  Gen- 
tiles except  in  rare  cases  of  necessity.  The  reason  is  obvious :  Gentiles  do  nof 
take  as  kindly  to  the  tithing  system  as  do  the  Mormons. 

The  Mormon  citizen  of  Utah  has  additional  disadvantages.  After  paying 
one-tenth  of  all  his  earnings  as  a  tithe  offering,  he  is  called  upon  to  erect  and 
maintain  the  meetinghouses  and  other  edifices  of  the  church ;  he  is  called  upon 
to  donate  to  the  poor  fund  in  his  ward,  through  his  local  bishop ;  he  is  called 
upon  to  sustain  the  Women's  Relief  Society,  whose  purpose  is  to  care  for  the 
poor  and  to  minister  to  the  sick;  he  is  called  upon  to  pay  his  share  of  the 
expense  for  the  2,500  missionaries  of  the  church  who  are  constantly  kept  in  the 
6328 


s 

field  without  drawing  upon  tlie  general  funds  of  the  church.  When  all  this  is 
done,  it  is  found  that,  in  defiance  of  the  old  and  deserved  boast  of  tlie  predeces- 
sors of  the  present  president,  there  are  some  Mormons  in  the  poorhouses  of 
Utah,  and  these  are  sustained  by  the  public  taxes  derived  from  the  Gentiles 
and  Mormons  alike. 

Broadly  speaking,  the  Gentiles  compose  35  per  cent  of  the  population  and  pay 
one-half  of  the  taxes  of  Utah.  In  the  long  run  they  carry  their  share  of  all 
these  great  charges. 

The  almost  unbearable  community  burden  which  is  thus  inflicted  must  be 
visible  to  your  minds  without  argument  from  me. 

Let  it  be  sufficient  on  this  point  for  me  to  say  that  all  the  property  of  Utah  is 
made  to  contribute  to  the  grandeur  of  the  president  of  the  church,  and  that  at 
his  instance  any  industry,  any  institution,  within  the  State,  could  be  destroyed 
except  the  mining  and  smelting  industry.  Even  this  industry  his  personal  and 
church  organ  has  attacked  with  a  threat  of  extermination  by  the  courts,  or  by 
additional  legislation,  if  the  smelters  do  not  meet  the  view  expressed  by  the 
church  organ. 

ISIr.  President,  I  ask  to  have  read  at  this  point  an  editorial  from  the  Deseret 
Evening  News  of  October  31,  1904,  which  I  send  to  the  desk. 

The  PRESIDENT  pro  tempore.     The  Secretary  will  read  as  requested. 

The  Secretary  read  as  follows : 

DESERET   EVENING   NEWS. 
[Organ  of  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter-Day  Saints.] 

Salt  Lake  City,  Octoher  31,  190J,. 

AWAY    WITH    THE    NCISAXCE. 

The  people  of  Salt  Lake  City  are  wakinc:  up  to  the  realization  of  the  trouble  of  which 
our  cousins  out  in  the  country  are  complaining.  The  sulphurous  fumes  which  have  heeu 
tasted  by  many  folks  here,  particularly  late  at  night,  are  not  only  those  of  a  partisan 
nature  emanating  from  the  smokestacks  of  the  slanderers  and  raaligners,  hut  are  treats 
bestowed  upon  our  citizens  by  the  smelters,  and  are  samples  of  the  goods,  or  rather  evils, 
which  farmers  and  horticulturists  have  been  burdened  with  so  long.  Complaints  have 
come  to  us  from  some  of  the  best  people  of  the  city,  of  different  faiths  and  parties,  that 
the  air  has  been  laden  with  sulphurous  fumes  that  can  not  only  be  felt  in  the  throat,  but 
tasted  in  the  mouth,  and  they  rest  upon  the  city  at  night,  appearing  like  a  thin  fosr. 

The. fact  is  this  smelter  smoke  will  have  to  go  ;  there  is  no  mistake  about  that.  If  the 
smelters  can  not  consume  it,  they  will  have  to  close  up.  This  fair  county  must  not  be 
devastated  and  this  city  must  not  be  rendered  unhealthiul  by  any  such  a  niiisance  as  that 
which  has  been  borne  with  now  for  a  long  time.  The  evasive  policy  that  has  been  pur- 
sued, the  tantalizing  treatment  toward  the  farmers  who  have  vainly  sought  for  redress, 
the  destruction  that  has  come  upon  vegetation  and  upon  live  stock,  and  now  the  choking 
fumes  that  reach  this  city  all  demand  some  practical  remedy  in  place  of  the  shilly-shally 
of  the  past. 

The  Deseret  News  has  counseled  peace,  consideration  for  the  smelter  people  in  the 
difficulties  that  they  have  to  meet,  favor  toward  a  valuable  industry  that  should  be 
encouraged  on  proper  lines,  and  arbitration  instead  of  litigation.  But  it  really  seems 
now  as  though  an  aggressive  policy  will  have  to  bo  pursued,  or  ruin  will  come  to  the  agri- 
cultural pursuits  of  Salt  Lake  County,  while  the  city  will  not  escape  from  the  ravages  of 
the  smelter  fiend.  If  the  companies  that  control  those  works  Vvlll  not- or  can  not  dispose 
of  the  poisonous  metallic  fumes  that  pour  out  of  their  smokestacks,  the  fires  will  have  to 
be  banked  and  the  nuisance  suppressed.  We  do  not  believe  the  latter  is  the  necessary 
alternative.  We  are  of  opinion  that  the  evil  can  be  disposed  of,  and  we  are  sure  that 
efforts  ought  to  be  made  to  effect  it  without  further  delay. 

It  looks  as  if  the  courts  will  have  to  be  appealed  to  to  obtain  compensation  for  dam- 
ages already  inflicted.  Also  that  they  will  have  to  be  applied  to  for  injunctions  against 
the  continuance  of  the  cause  of  the  trouble.  We  think  there  is  law  enough  now  to  pro- 
ceed under.  But  if  that  is  not  the  case,  then  legislation  must  be  had  to  fully  cover  the 
ground.  Litigation  will  have  to  come  first,  legislation  afterwards.  However  that  may 
be,  temporizing  with  the  evil  will  not  do.  Patience  has  ceased  to  be  a  virtue  in  this 
matter..  The  conviction  is  fastening  itself  upon  the  public  mind  that  no  active  steps  are 
intended  by  the  responsible  parties,  but  simply  a  policy  of  delay.  They  must  be  taught 
that  this  will  not  answer  the  purpose,  and  that  the  injured  people  will  not  be  fooled  in 
that  way.     The  smelter  smoke  must  go.     And  it  must  not  go  in  the  old  way. 

The  proposition  to  put  the  matter  in  the  hands  of  experts  chosen  by  the  complainants 
is  not  to  be  seriously  considered.  The  onus  is  upon  the  smelter  men ;  they  are  the 
offendrrs,  and  they  must  take  the  steps  necessary  to  remove  the  cause  of  complaint,  and 
also  reimburse  those  who  have  been  injured.  We  do  not  ask  anything  unreasonable. 
We  join  with  those  of  our  citizens  who  intend  that  this  beautiful  part  of  our  lovely  State 
shall  not  be  laid  waste,  even  if  the  only  cure  is  the  suppression  of  the  destroying  cause. 
This  may  as  well  be  understood  first  as  last.  Useless  practical  measures  are  adopted  to 
abate  the  evil,  active  proceedings  will  have  to  be  taken  and  pushed  to  the  utmost  to 
remove  entirely  the  root  and  branch  and  trunk  and  body  of  this  tree  of  destruction.  The 
people  Affected  are  deeply  in  earnest,  and  they  certainly  mean  business. 

Mr.  ICEARNS.     Mr.  President,  I  must  not  burden  you  \^'ith  too  many  details, 
but  in  order  for  you  to  see  how  complete  is  the  business  power  of  this  man  I 
6328 


will  cite  you  to  one  case.  The  Great  Salt  Lake  is  e??timated  to  contain 
14,000,000,000  tons  of  salf.  Probably  salt  can  be  made  cheaper  on  the  shores  of 
this  lake  than  anywhere  else  in  the  world.  Nearly  all  its  shore  line  is  adapt- 
able for  salt  gardens.  The  president  of  the  church  is  interested  in  a  large  salt 
monopoly  which  has  gathered  in  the  various  smaller  enterprises.  He  is  presi- 
dent of  a  railroad  which  runs  from  the  salt  gardens  to  Salt  Lake  Ctly,  connect- 
ing there  with  trunk  lines.  It  costs  to  manufacture  the  salt  and  place  it  on 
board  the  cars  75  cents  per  ton.  He  receives  for  it  $o  and  p)  per  ton.  His 
company  and  its  subsidiary  corporation  are  probably  capitalized  at  three- 
quarters  of  a  million  dollars,  and  upon  this  large  sum  he  is  able  to  pay  dividends 
of  8  or  10  per  cent. 

Not  long  since  two  men,  who  for  many  years  had;  been  tithe  payers  and  loyal 
members  of  the  church,  undertook  to  establish  a  salt  garden  along  the  line  of  a 
ti'unk  railway.  One  of  them  was  a  large  dealer  in  salt,  and  proposed  to  extend 
his  trade  by  making  the  salt  and  reaching  territory  prohibited  to  him  by  the 
church  price  of  salt;  the  other  was  the  owner  of  the  land  upon  which  it  was 
proposed  to  establish  the  salt  garden.  These  men  formed  a  corporation,  put  in 
pumping  stations  and  flumes,  and  the  corporation  became  indebted  to  one  of 
the  financial  institutions  over  which  the  church  exercised  considerable  inflii- 
ence.  Then  the  president  of  the  church  sent  for  them.  There  is  scarcely  an 
instance  on  record  where  a  message  of  this  kind  failed  of  its  purpose.  These 
men  went  to  meet  the  prophet,  seer,  and  revelator  of  God,  as  they  supposed,  but 
he  had  laid  aside  his  robes  of  sanctity  for  the  moment  and  he  was  a  plain, 
unadorned,  aggressive,  if  not  an  able,  business  man.  He  first  denounced  them 
for  interfering  with  a  business  which  he  had  made  peculiarly  his  own ;  and,  when 
they  protested  that  they  had  no  intention  to  interfere  with  his  trade,  but  were 
seeking  new  markets,  he  declared  ii\  a  voice  of  thunderous  passion  that  if  they 
did  not  cease  with  their  projectect  enterprise,  he  would  crush  them.  They 
escaped  from  his  presence  feeling  like  courtiers  repulsed  from  the  foot  of  a 
Jdng's  throne,  and  then  surveyed  their  enterprise.  If  they  stopped,  they  would 
lose  all  the  money  invested  and  their  enterprise  would  possibly  be  sold  out  to 
their  creditors ;  if  they  vrent  on  and  invested  more  money,  the  president  had  the 
power,  as  he  had  threatened,  to  crush  them.  Not  only  could  he  ruin  their  enter- 
prise, but  he  could  ostracise  them  socially  and  could  make  of  them  marked  and 
shunned  men  in  the  community-  where  they  had  always  been  respected. 

Is  there  menace  in  this  system?  To  me  it  seems  like  a  great  danger  to  all 
the  people  who  are  now  affected,  and  therefore  of  great  danger  to  tlie  people 
of  the  United  States,  because  the  power  of  this  monarchy  within  the  Republic 
is  constantly  extending.  If  it  be  an  evil,  every  apostle  is  in  part  responsible 
for  this  tyrannical  course.  He  helped  to  elect  the  president;  he  does  the 
president's  bidding,  and  shares  in  the  advantages  of  that  tyranny. 

I  did  not  call  the  social  system  a  violation  of  the  pledges  to  the  country,  but 
I  do  affirm  that  the  business  tryanny  of  Mormon  leaders  is  an  expj-ess  violation 
of  the  covenant  made,  for  they  do  not  leave  their  followers  free  in  secular 
afCairs.  They  tyrannize  over  them,  and  their  tyranny  spreads  even  to  the 
Gentiles.  In  all  this  I  charge  that  every  apostle  is  a  party  to  the  wrong  and  to 
the  violation.  Although  I  speak  of  the  president  of  the  chm'ch  as  the  leader, 
the  monarch  in  fact,  every  apostle  is  one  of  his  ministers,  one  of  his  creators, 
and  also  one  of  his  creatures,  and  possibly  his  successor ;  and  the  whole  system 
depends  upon  the  manner  in  which  the  apostles  and  the  other  leaders  shall  sup- 
port the  chief  leader.  As  no  apostle  has  ever  protestecl  against  this  system, 
but  has,  by  every  means  in  his  power,  encouraged  it,  he  can  not  escape  his 
share  of  the  responsibility  for  it  It  is  an  evil ;  tliey  aid  it.  It  is  a  violation  of 
tiie  pledge  upon  which  statehood  was  granted;  they  profit  by  it. 

i  THE  POLITICAL  AUTOCHACY. 

r  pass  now  to  the  politLcal  aspect  of  this  hierarcliy,  as  some  call  it,,  but  this 
monarchy  as  I  choose  to  term  it. 

I  have  previously  called  your  attention  to  the  social  and  business  powers, 
monopolies,  autocracies,  exercised  by  the  leaders.  Through  these  channels  of 
social  and  business  relations  they  can  spread  the  knov»dedge  of  their  political 
desires  without  appearing  obtrusively  in  politics.  When  the  end  of  their  desire 
is  accomplished,  they  affect  to  wash  their  hands  of  all  responsibility  by  denying 
that  they  engaged  in  political  activities.  Superficial  persons,  and  those  desir- 
ing to  accei^t  this  argument,  are  convinced  by  it.  But  never,  in  the  palmy  days 
C32S 


10 

of  Crigham  Yoimc;,  was  there  a  nmre  complete  political  tyranny  than  is  exer- 
cised by  the  present  president  of  the  Mormon  Church  and  his  apostles,  who  are 
merely  awaiting  the  time  when  by  the  death  of  their  seniors  in  rank  they  may 
become  president,  and  select  some  other  man  to  hold  the  apostleship  in  their 
place — as  they  now  hold  it  in  behalf  of  the  ruling  monarch. 

In  this  statement  I  merely  call  your  attention  to  what  a  perfect  system  of 
ecclesiastical  government  is  maintained  by  these  presidents  and  aix)stles ;  and  I 
do  not  need  to  more  than  indicate  to  you  what  a  wouderous  aid  their  ecclesi- 
astical government  can  be,  and  is,  in  accomplishing  their  political  purposes. 

Parties  are  nothing  to  these  leaders,  except  as  parties  may  be  used  by  them. 
So  long  as  there  is  Republican  administration  and  Congress,  they  will  lead  their 
followers  to  support  Republican  tickets ;  but  if,  by  any  chance,  the  Democratic 
party  should  control  this  Government,  with  a  prospect  of  continuance  in  pov>-er, 
you  would  see  a  gradual  veering  around  under  the  direction  of  the  Mormon 
leaders.  When  Republicans  are  in  power  the  Republican  leaders  of  the  Mormon 
people  are  in  evidence  and  the  Democratic  leaders  are  in  retirement.  If  the 
Democracy  were  in  power,  the  Republican  leaders  of  the  Mormon  people  would 
go  into  retirement  and  Democrats  would  appear  in  their  places.  No  man  can  be 
elected  to  either  House  of  Congress  against  their  v/ish.  I  will  not  ti-espass  upon 
your  patience  long  enough  to  recite  the  innumerable  circumstances  that  prove 
this  assertion,  but  will  merely  refer  to  enough  instances  to  illustrate  the  method. 
In  1897,  at  the  session  of  the  legislature  which  was  to  elect  a  Senator,  and  which 
was  composed  of  sixty  Democrats  and  three  Republicans,  Moses  Thacher  was 
the  favored  candidate  of  the  Democracy  in  the  State.  He  had  been  an  apostle 
of  the  Mormon  Church,  but  had  been  deposed  because  he  was  out  of  harmony 
with  the  leaders.  The  Hon.  Jos.  L.  Rawlins  was  a  rival  candidate,  but  not 
strongly  so  at  first.  He  was  encouraged  by  the  church  leaders  in  every  way ; 
and  finally,  when  his  sti-ength  had  been  advanced  sufficiently  to  need  but  one 
vote,  a  Mormon  Republican  Avas  promptly  moved  over  into  the  Democratic  col- 
umn and  he  was  elected  by  the  joint  assembly.  I  do  not  charge  that  Hon.  Joseph 
L.  Rawlins,  who  occupied  a  seat  with  distinguished  honor  in  this  great  body  for 
six  years,  had  any  improper  bargain  with  the  church,  or  any  knowledge  of  the 
secret  methods  by  which  his  election  was  being  compassed ;  but  he  was  elected 
under  the  direction  of  the  leaders  of  the  church  because  they  desired  to  defeat 
and  further  humiliate  a  deposed  aix)stle. 

I  will  not  ignore  my  own  case.  During  nearly  three  years  I  have  waited  this 
great  hour  of  justice  in  which  I  could  answer  the  malignant  falsehood  and  abuse 
which  has  been  heaped  upon  a  man  who  is  dead  and  can  not  answer,  and  upon 
myself,  a  living  man  willing  to  wait  the  time  for  answer.  Lorenzo  Snow,  a  very 
aged  man,  was  president  of  the  church  when  I  was  elected  to  the  Senate.  He 
had  reached  that  advanced  time  of  life,  being  over  eighty,  when  men  abide 
largely  in  the  thoughts  of  their  youth.  He  was  my  friend  in  that  distant  way 
which  sometimes  exists  without  close  acquaintanceship,  our  friendship  (if  I 
may  term  it  such)  having  arisen  from  the  events  attendant  upon  Utah's  struggle 
for  statehood.  For  some  reason  he  did  not  oppose  my  election  to  the  Senate. 
Every  other  candidate  for  the  place  had  sought  his  favor ;  it  came  to  me  without 
price  or  solicitation  on  my  part.  The  friends  and  mouthpieces  of  some  of  the 
present  leaders  have  been  base  enough  to  charge  that  I  bought  the  Senatorship 
from  Lorenzo  Snow,  president  of  their  own  church.  Here  and  now  I  denounce 
the  calumny  against  that  old  man,  whose  unsought  and  unbought  favor  came  to 
me  in  that  contest.  That  I  ever  paid  him  one  dollar  of  money,  or  asked  him  to 
influence  legislators  of  his  faith,  is  as  cruel  a  falsehood  as  ever  came  from  human 
lips.  So  far  as  I  am  concerned  he  held  his  power  with  clean  hands,  and  I  would 
protect  the  memory  of  this  dead  man  against  all  the  abuse  and  misrepresenta- 
tion which  might  be  heaped  upon  him  by  those  who  were  his  adherents  during 
life,  but  who  now  attack  his  fame  in  order  that  they  may  pay  the  greater  defer- 
ence to  the  present  king. 

You  must  know  that  in  that  day  we  were  but  five  years  old  as  a  State.  Our 
ix)litical  conditions  were  and  had  been  greatly  unsettled.  The  purpose  of  the 
church  to  rule  in  politics  had  not  yet  been  made  so  manifest  and  determined. 
Lorenzo  Snow  held  his  office  for  a  brief  time — about  two  years.  What  he  did  in 
that  office  pertaining  to  my  election  I  here  and  now  distinctly  assume  as  my 
burden,  for  no  man  shall  with  impunity  use  his  hatred  of  me  to  defame  Lorenzo 
Snow  and  dishonor  his  memory  to  his  living  and  loving  descendants. 

As  for  myself,  I  am  willing  to  take  the  Senate  and  the  country  into  my  con- 
fidence, and  make  a  part  of  the  eternal  records  of  the  Senate,  for  such  of  my 
6328 


11 

friends  as  may  care  to  read,  tlie  vindication  of  my  course  to  my  posterity.  T 
liad  an  ambition,  and  not  an  improper  one,  to  sit  in  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States,  My  competitors  had  longer  experience  in  politics  and  may  have  under- 
stood more  of  the  peculiar  situation  in  the  State.  They  sought  what  is  known 
as  church  influence.  I  sought  to  obtain  this  place  by  purely  political  means.  I 
was  elected.  After  all  their  trickery  my  opponents  were  defeated,  and  to  some 
extent  by  the  very  means  which  they  had  basely  invoked.  I  have  served  with 
you  four  years,  and  have  sought  in  a  modest  way  to  make  a  creditable  record 
here.  I  have  learned  something  of  the  grandeur  and  dignity  of  the  Senat<^, 
something  of  its  ideals,  which  I  could  not  know  before  coming  here.  I  say  to 
you,  my  fellow  Senators,  that  this  place  of  power  is  infinitely  more  magnificent 
than  I  dreamed  when  I  first  thought  of  occupying  a  seat  liere.  But  were  it 
thrice  as  great  as  I  now  know^  it  to  be,  and  were  I  back  in  that  old  time  of  strug- 
gle in  Utah,  when  I  was  seeking  for  this  honor,  I  would  not  permit  the  volun- 
teered friendship  of  President  Snow  to  bestow  upon  me,  even  as  an  innocent 
recipient,  one  atom  of  the  church  monarch's  favor.  My  ideals  have  grown  with 
my  term  of  service  in  this  body,  and  I  believe  that  tlie  man  who  would  render 
here  the  highest  service  to  his  country  must  be  careful  to  attain  to  this  place  by 
the  purest  civic  path  that  mortal  feet  can  tread. 

I  have  said  enough  to  indicate  that  for  my  own  part  I  never  countenanced, 
nor  knowingly  condoned,  the  intrusion  of  the  church  monarchy  into  secular 
afiCairs.  And  I  have  said  enough  to  those  who  know  me  to  prove  for  all  time 
that,  so  far  as  I  am  concerned,  my  election  here  was  as  honorable  as  that  of  any 
man  who  sits  in  this  chamber ;  and  yet  I  have  said  enough  that  all  men  may  know 
that  rather  than  have  a  dead  man's  memory  defamed  on  my  account,  I  will 
make  his  cause  my  own  and  will  fight  for  the  honor  which  he  is  not  on  earth  to 
defend.  This  will  not  suit  the  friends  and  mouthpieces  of  the  present  rulers, 
but  I  have  no  desire  to  satisfy  or  conciliate  them ;  and  in  leaving  this  part  of 
the  question,  I  avenge  President  Snow  sufiicieutly  by  saying  that  these  men 
did  not  dare  to  offend  his  desire  nor  dispute  his  will  while  he  was  living,  and 
only  grew  brave  w^hen  they  could  cry :  "  Lorenzo,  the  king,  is  dead !  Long  live 
Joseph,  the  king!  " 

As  a  Senator  I  have  sought  to  fulfill  my  duty  to  the  people  of  this  country. 
I  am  about  to  retire  from  this  place  of  dignity.  No  man  can  retain  this  seat 
from  Utah  and  retain  his  self-respect  after  he  discovers  the  methods  by  which 
his  election  is  procured  and  the  objects  which  the  church  monarchy  intends  to 
achieve.  Some  of  my  critics  will  say  that  I  relinquished  that  which  I  could  not 
hold.  1  vrill  not  pause  to  discuss  that  point  further  than  to  say  that  if  I  had 
chosen  to  adopt  the  policy  with  the  present  monarch  of  the  church,  which  his 
friends  and  mouthpieces  say  I  did  adopt  with  the  king  who  is  dead,  it  might 
iiave  been  possible  to  retain  this  place  of  honor  with  dishonor. 

Every  apostle  is  a  part  of  this  terrible  power,  which  can  make  and  unmake  at 
its  mysterious  will  and  pleasure.  Eaiiy  in  1902  warning  had  been  publicly 
uttered  in  the  State  against  the  continued  manifestation  of  church  power  in  poli- 
tics. The  period  of  unsettled  conditions  during  which  I  was  elected  had  ended 
and  we  had  opportunity  to  see  the  manner  in  which  the  church  monarch  was 
resuming  his  forbidden  sway ;  and  we  had  occasion  to  know  the  indignant 
feelings  entertained  by  the  people  of  the  United  States  when  they  contemplated 
the  flagrant  breaking  of  the  pledge  given  to  the  country  to  secure  the  admission 
of  Utah.  I  myself,  after  conference  with  distinguished  men  at  Washington, 
journeyed  to  Utah  and  presented  a  solemn  protest  and  warning  to  the  leaders 
of  the  church  against  the  dangerous  exercise  of  their  political  power.  I  did  it 
to  repay  a  debt  which  I  owed  to  Utah,  and  not  for  any  selfish  reason.  I  knew 
that  from  the  day  I  uttered  that  warning  the  leaders  of  the  Mormon  Church 
would  hate  and  pursue  me  for  the  purpose  of  wreaking  their  vengeance.  But 
lis  tlie  consequences  of  their  misconduct,  their  pledge  brcaldng  would  fall  upon 
all  of  the  people  of  the  State,  upon  the  innocent  more  severely  than  upon  the 
guilty,  I  felt  that  I  must  assert  my  love  and  gratitude  to  the  State,  even  though 
my  warning  should  lead  to  my  own  destruction  by  these  autocracts.  If  there  had 
been  one  desire  in  my  heart  to  effect  a  conjunction  with  this  church  monai'chy, 
if  I  had  been  williug  to  retain  oflice  as  its  gift,  I  would  not  have  taken  this 
step,  for  I  Icnew  its  consequences.  I  began  in  that  hour  my  efl'ort  to  restore  to 
the  people  of  Utah  the  safety  and  the  political  freedom  which  are  their  right, 
and  I  shall  continue  it  while  I  live  untif  the  fight  is  won. 

The  disdain  with  which  that  message  was  received  was  final  proof  of  the  con- 
tempt in  which  that  church  monarchy  holds  the  Senate  and  the  people  of  the 
6328 


12 

United  States,  and  of  the  disregard  in  wliich  the  church  monarchy  holds  the 
pledges  which  it  made  in  order  to  ohtain  tlie  power  of  statehood. 

They  do  not  need  to  ntter  explicit  instructions  in  order  to  assert  their  demand. 
The  methods  of  conveying  information  of  their  desire  are  numerous  and  suffi- 
ciently effective,  as  is  proved  by  results.  To  shov/  haw  completely  all  ordinary 
politic^.l  conditions,  as  they  obtain  elsewhere  in  the  United  States,  are  without 
account  in  Utah,  I  have  but  to  cite  you  to  the  fact  that  after  the  recent  election, 
which  gave  57  members  out  of  G3  on  joint  ballot  to  the  Republican  part\',  and 
when  the  question  of  my  successor  became  a  matter  of  great  anxiety  to  numer- 
c»us  aspirants  for  this  place,  the  discussion  was  not  concerning  the  fitness  of  can- 
didates, nor  the  political  popularity  of  the  various  gentlemen  who  composed  that 
waiting  list,  nor  the  i)let]ges  of  the  legislators,  but  was  limited  to  the  question 
as  to  \vIio  could  stand  best  with  the  church  monarchy ;  as  to  whom  it  would 
like  to  use  in  this  position ;  as  to  who  would  make  for  the  extension  of  its  ambi- 
tions and  power  in  the  United  States. 

J  THE    MORMON    JirAERIAGE   RELATION. 

And  now  I^ome  to  a  subject  concerning  which  the  people  of  the  United  States 
are  greatly  aroused.  It  is  known  that  there  have  been  plural  marriages  among 
the  Mormon  people,  by  sanction  of  high  authorities  in  this  church  monarchy, 
since  the  solemn  promise  was  made  to  the  country  that  plural  marriages  should 
end.  It  is  v>'ell  known  that  the  plural  marriage  relations  have  been  continued 
defiantly,  according  to  the  will  and  pleasure  of  those  who  had  formerly  violated 
the  law,  and  for  whose  obedience  to  law  the  church  monarchy  pledged  the  faith 
and  honor  of  its  leaders  and  followers  alike  in  order  to  obtain  statehood.  The 
pledge  was  made  repeatedly',  as  stated  in  an  earlier  part  of  these  remarks,  that 
all  of  the  Mormon  people  would  come  within  the  law.  They  have  net  done  so. 
The  church  monarch  is  known  to  be  living  in  deliance  of  the  laws  of  God  and 
man,  and  in  defiance  of  the  covenant  made  with  the  country,  upon  which  am- 
nesty by  the  President,  and  statehood  by  the  President  and  the  Congress,  were 
granted, 

I  charge  that  every  apostle  is  in  large  part  responsible  for  this  condition,  so 
deplorable  in  its  effects  upon  the  people  of  Utah  and  so  antagonistic  to  the 
institutions  of  this  country.  Every  apostle  is  directed  by  the  law-breqjving 
church  monarch.  ICvery  apostle  teaches  by  example  and  precept  to  the  Mormon 
people  that  this  church  monarch  is  a  pro])het  of  God,  to  offend  or  criticise  whom 
is  a  sin  in  the  sight  of  the  Almighty.  Every  apostle  hel])s  to  appoint  to  office 
and  sustain  the  seven  presidents  of  seventies,  who  are  belovv^  tliem  in  dignity, 
and  they  are  directly  resiwnsible  for  them  and  their  method  of  life. 

It  is  quite  evident  that  the  church  monarchy  is  endeavoring  to  reestablish 
the  rule  of  a  polygamous  class  over  the  mass  of  the  Mormon  people.  Of  the 
apostles  not  practicing  polygamy  there  is  at  most  only  three  or  four  men  con- 
stituting the  quorum  of  which  this  could  be  truthfully  said.  Special  reasons 
may  exist  in  some  particular  case  why  a  man  in  this  class  has  not  entered  into 
such  relation. 

THE  GENERAL  SITUATION. 

Bi'iefly  reviewing  the  matters  which  I  have  offered  here,  and  the  logical 
deductions  therefrom,  1  maintain  the  following  propositions : 

We  set  aside  the  religion  of  the  Mormon  people  as  sacred  from  assault. 

Outside  of  religion  tiie  Mormons  as  a  community  are  ruled  by  a  special  privi- 
leged class,  constituting  what  I  call  the  church  monarchy. 

This  monarchy  pletlged  the  country  that  there  would  be  no  more  violations  of 
law  and  no  more  defiance  of  the  sentiment  of  the  United  States  regarding 
polygamy  and  the  plural  marriage  relation. 

This  monarchy  pledged  the  United  States  that  it  would  refrain  from  control- 
ling its  subjects  in  secular  affairs. 

Every  member  of  this  monarchy  is  responsible  for  the  system  of  government 
and  for  the  acts  of  the  monarchy,  since  (as  shown  in  the  cases  of  the  deposed 
apostle,  Moses  Thatcher,  and  others)  tlie  man  who  is  not  in  accord  with  the 
system  is  dropped  from  the  ruling  class. 

This  monarchy  sets  up  a  regal  social  order  within  this  Repu])llc. 

This  monarchy  monopolizes  the  business  of  one  commonwealth  and  is  rapidly 
reaching  into  others. 
8328 


This  monarch?'  takes  practically  all  the  surplus  product  of  the  toil  of  its  sub- 
jects for  its  own  purpose,  and  makes  no  account  to  anyone  on  earth  of  its 
immense  secret  fund. 

This  monarchy  rules  all  politics  in  Utah,  and  is  rapidly  extending  its  dominion 
into  other  States  and  Territories. 

This  monarchy  permits  its  favorites  to  enter  into  polygamy  and  to  maintain 
polygamous  relations,  and  it  protects  them  from  prosecution  by  its  political 
power. 

Lately  no  effort  has  been  made  to  punish  any  of  these  people  by  the  local  law. 
On  the  contrary,  the  ruling  monarch  has  continued  to  grow  in  power,  wealth, 
and  importance.  He  sits  upon  innumerable  boards  of  directors,  among  others 
that  of  the  Union  Pacific  Railway,  where  he  joins  upon  terms  of  fraternity 
with  the  great  financial  and  transi)ortation  magnates  of  the  United  States,  wdio 
hold  him  in  their  councils  because  his  power  to  benefit  or  to  injure  their  pos- 
sessions nmst  be  taken  into  account. 

I  charge  that  no  apostJe  has  over  protested  publicly  against  the  continuation 
of  this  sovereign  authority  over  the  Mormon  kingdom. 

Within  a  few  months  past  the  last  apostle  elected  to  the  quorum  was  a 
polygamist — Charles  W.  Penrose — and  his  law-breaking  career  is  well  knovrn. 
Previous  to  1SS9  Penrose  was  living  publicly  with  three  wives.  Under  false  pre- 
tenses to  President  Cleveland  he  obtained  amnesty  for  his  past  offenses.  He 
represented  that  he  had  but  two  wives,  and  that  he  married  his  second  wife  in 
38(32,  while  it  was  generally  known  that  he  took  a  third  wife  just  prior  to  1888. 
He  promised  to  obey  the  law  in  the  future,  and  to  urge  others  to  do  so ;  yet 
after  that  amnesty,  obtained  by  concealing  his  third  marriage  from  President 
Cleveland,  he  continued  living  with  his  three  wives.  His  action  in  this  matter 
has  been  notorious.  He  has  publicly  defended  this  kind  of  lawbreaking  on  the 
false  pretense  that  there  was  a  tacit  understanding  vrith  the  American  Con- 
gress and  people,  when  Utah  w^as  admitted,  that  these  polygamists  might  con- 
tinue to  live  as  they  had  been  living. 

And  it  was  this  traitor  to  his  country's  laws,  this  unrepentant  knave  and 
cheat  of  the  nation's  mercy,  this  defamer  of  Congress  and  the  people,  that  was 
elected  to  the  apostleship  to  help  govern  the  church,  and  through  the  church 
the  State. 

Is  it  not  demonstrated  that  Utah  is  an  abnormal  State?  Our  problem  is 
vast  and  complex.  I  have  endeavored  to  simplify  it  so  that  the  Senate  and 
the  country  may  readily  grasp  the  questions  at  issue. 

THE  EEMEDY. 

Will  this  great  body,  will  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  go  on  unheed- 
ingly  while  this  church  monarchy  multiplies  its  purposes  and  multiplies  its 
power?  Has  the  nation  so  little  regard  for  its  own  dignity  and  the  safety  of 
its  institutions  and  its  people  that  it  will  permit  a  church  monarch  like  Joseph 
F.  Smith  to  defy  the  laws  of  the  country,  and  to  override  the  law  and  to  over- 
rule the  administrators  of  the  law  in  his  own  State  of  Utah? 

What  shall  the  Americans  of  that  Commonwealth  do  if  the  people  of  the 
United  States  do  not  heed  their  cry? 

The  vast  majority  of  the  Mormon  people  are  law-abiding,  industrious,  sober, 
and  thrifty.  They  make  good  citizens  in  every  respect  except  as  they  are  domi- 
nated by  this  monorchy,  which  speaks  to  them  in  the  name  of  God  and  governs 
them  in  the  spirit  of  Mammon.  Any  remedy  for  existing  evils  which  would 
injure  the  mass  of  the  Mormon  people  would  be  most  deplorable.  I  believe  that 
they  would  loosen  the  chains  which  they  wear  if  it  vrere  possible.  I  think  that 
many  of  them  pay  blood-money  tithes  simply  to. avoid  social  ostracism  and  busi- 
ness destruction.  I  believe  that  many  of  them  do  the  political  will  of  the 
church  monarch  because  they  are  led  to  believe  that  the  safety  of  the  church 
monarchy  is  necessary  in  order  that  the  mass  may  preserve  the  right  to  worship 
God  according  to  the  dictates  of  their  conscience.  The  church  monopoly,  by  its 
various  agencies,  is  usually  able  to  uprear  the  injured  and  innocent  mass  of  the 
Mormon  people  as  a  barrier  to  protect  the  members  of  that  monarchy  from  pub- 
lic vengeance. 

It  is  the  duty  of  this  great  body— the  Senate  of  the  United  States— to  serve 
notice  on  this  church  monarch  and  his  apostles  that  they  must  live  within  the 
law;  that  the  nation  is  supreme;  that  the  institutions^  of  this  country  must 

G.328 


14 

prevail  throughout  the  land;  and  that  the  compact  upon  which  statehood  was 
granted  must  be  preserved  inviohite. 

May  heaven  grant  that  this  may  be  effective  and  that  the  church  monarchy 
-in  Utah  may  ))e  taught  that  it  must  relinquish  its  grasp. 

I  would  not,  for  my  life,  that  injury  should  conre  to  the  innocent  mass  of 
the  people  of  I'tah ;  I  would  not  that  any  right  of  theirs  should  be  lost,  but  that 
the  right  of  all  should  be  preserved  to  all. 

If  the  Senate  will  apply  this  remedy  and  the  alien  monarchy  still  proves  de- 
l-ant, it  will  be  for  others  than  myself  to  suggest  a  course  of  action  consistent 
with  the  dignity  of  the  country. 

In  the  meantime  we  of  Utah  who  have  no  sympathy  with  the  now  clearly 
defined  purpose  of  this  church  monopoly  will  wage  our  battle  for  individual  free- 
dom, to  lift  the  State  to  a  proud  position  in  the  sisterhood,  to  preserve  the  com- 
pact  which  wcis  made  with  the  country,  believing  that  behind  the  brave  citizens 
in  Utah  who  are  warring  against  tiiis  alien  monarchy  stands  the  sentiment  and 
pc;\'er  of  eighty-two  millions  of  our  fellow-citizens. 

o 


^ 


